Chicago

I have made it to Chicago. I can tell because I'm hot and wet. Last night was a night of sweating, lugging, and meeting new people.

This morning I woke up to some weird rumbling noise. Is it my bed? Is it the train? I didn't think we were that close to the train. Maybe it's some house noise I'm not familiar with. As my consciousness was coming out of dreamland I realized it was thunder. Huge, massive, crazy claps of thunder. Rain was pelting my window. There might have been lightning, but I didn't see it because I rolled over and went back to sleep. Ah, the power of closing your eyes.

Later I got up, and...had no idea what to do. What was the plan for today? What do I normally do when I wake up?
Oh, breakfast.
Was I hungry?
I don't think so.
I better eat anyway, it's what I normally do.

While cerealing, I remembered that I was going to go exploring; maybe find a library. I hadn't counted on rain. I had no rain back up plan.

So I sat on the couch.

Soon I heard noises in the apartment and realized I had a roommate home. A human! Maybe she could help me!

We chatted a bit, and then she said, "So, you wanna work out?" YES! I remember now! Yes, that is something I do in the mornings! Work out! After that, she took a nap, and I opened all the cupboards and doors in the apartment. When she woke up and we got ready, we went downtown to experience touristy Chicago.

By the time we stepped off the L, it had started raining again. I didn't notice it, however, as I was a bit wet when we began our journey.

We walked to Millennium Park and saw The Bean.

I'm waving to you, Mom.

We walked by a water feature where lots of kids were playing. I guess if you are already wet it doesn't matter if you get more wet. But my favorite thing was these two guys wrestling each other into the water, under the watchful eye of the security guard.


After that my tour guide suggested that maybe we come back on a sunnier day, and catch a bus to the Water Tower to go shopping.

We passed a Chess Party, but because it was raining and we wanted to check out the stores, we didn't stop and watch.


When we made it to the mall, I realized it was five stories tall. I spotted a Sephora on the map, and instantly started running for the escalator. Sephora, I am sorry to report, isn't much bigger than the Sephora in San Luis Obispo. I took one look around and left. Been there, done that. Shouldn't the store be bigger than SLO? Shouldn't it? Well, it wasn't.

We also went into a fancy shmanz store where I found a hat that I simply had to have, but at a better price, and perhaps poorer quality. I expressed my mission to my companion, and we set off on a search.

I am sorry to say that I couldn't find anything. Perhaps another day. I hope so. I would love a Chicago hat.